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HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (CBS4) – A total of 268 registered sex offenders live in Douglas County, and law officials want to talk to everyone of them face to face.

That’s the mission behind “Operation Clean Sweep.”

“We just want to make sure the kids are safe in our neighborhoods,” Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Edward Roberson said as he conducted checks on Wednesday night. “When you’ve got young children in the neighborhoods, if one comes up missing, we’d like to know where sex offenders are so we can check on them first.”

Roberson and his partner Eric Woolverton allowed a CBS4 crew to accompany them on the checks.

One convicted peeping Tom in Highlands Ranch was not pleased to see the CBS4 videocamera. He wanted the camera turned off, but the deputies intervened, pointing out that the crew was on public property.

The sheriff’s department uses the “Sex Offender Track And Register” or SOTAR database to locate offenders in the county.

SOTAR should keep track of all the addresses and criminal history of the sexual offenders.

“If they move, we want to know where,” Roberson said. “If they change vehicles we want to know what they’re driving or if they change phone numbers, we want to know so we can contact them at any time.”

Roberson says Operation Clean Sweep isn’t perfect, but it does offer increased safety to the community.

“We can’t control them but we can do the best we can to stay on top of the situation,” he said. “And if we do have a problem, we know where to find them.”

There are 57 law enforcement agencies that use the SOTAR database. If you want to check offenders in Douglas County, the information is available at www.dcsheriff.net.